Danny
by MizDenton
Summary: A young man looking for a place to belong finds The Xavier School.
1. One Hot, Hot, Hot Day

X-Men

Danny

"Jean!" The voice echoed off the cavernous hallways of The Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters. Dr. Jean Grey paused in the middle of a genetics experiment, looking up and toward the source of the sound.

Logan. She'd recognize that senatorian bellow anywhere. She left the experiment and went to the doorway of the Med-Lab. She hadn't heard Logan yell like that since the end of the school year and the kids dumped a bucket of frigid water on him as a prank.

_Jean, you're needed down by the front gate. Bring your medical bag._ Professor Charles Xavier's calm, English-tinged voice echoed in her head.

"Jean?" Logan appeared in the Med-Lab's doorway, drenched in sweat. "You've got to come with me."

"I know. You can tell me on the way." She left the experiment where it was, hoping it didn't mutate into something else, picked up her medical bag and followed Logan out the door. Once she stepped outside, she was reminded of why she had stayed inside on such a pleasant looking day. A wall of heat and humidity slammed into her, making her instantly grateful for air-conditioning. All of Lower New York State was wilting under the fifth straight day of 90º plus temperatures. The high temperatures combined with humidity levels in the 70 range conspired to make the outside feel like it was over 100º and had prompted a rare heat advisory, 'Do Not Remain Outside for Long Periods of Time'.

The majority of the students at the school had chosen to stay inside but a hardy few chosen to work out outside under the watchful eye of Logan. It was toward this group that Logan led Jean. The students stood by the front gates in a loose group, clustered around someone on the ground.

"It's not one of the kids." Logan said, reading her mind.

She shot him a look but did not say anything. The students parted as Jean came up and allowed her her first look at the person sprawled on the ground. A young man, no older than sixteen, sandy brown hair, fair complexion and skinny as a rail. His clothes were clean and showed obvious care. A small knapsack lay nearby. A brief once-over of the the young man told Jean all she needed to know. Rapid pulse, rapid breathing, red-tinged skin hot to the touch. It was a classic case of heat stroke.

"Logan, could you carry him back to the Med-Lab?" Jean asked, looking back at him.

He nodded.

She then looked at the hot, red-faced, sweaty group of kids surrounding her and said "Workout is over. Everyone back inside, someone pick up that knapsack."

Not a single student complained.

In the Med-Lab, Logan put the boy down on the bed Jean pointed at, then stepped back. As Jean began to work, Professor Xavier rolled into the Med-Lab and over to Logan.

"What happened?" the Professor asked.

"I don't know." Logan said with a shrug. "We were on the last lap when Chris tripped over something and went sprawlin' in the dirt. That somethin' was him." He jerked a thumb back at Jean and the boy. "He couldn't'a been there long. It only takes us maybe ten minutes to finish a lap and he wasn't there when we started."

Professor Xavier nodded and said "Where do you think he came from?"

Again, Logan shrugged. "I'd say no more than days walk, maybe a little farther if he hitched a ride."

"Go through his bag and see what you can't find out." Professor Xavier said.

Logan nodded. He went over to where the boy's bag had been placed, picked it up and went out the Med-Lab's doors.

Professor Xavier looked after Logan for a moment before joining Jean at the boy's bedside. Whoever the boy was, he was in excellent hands but had he been reached in time?

"How is he?" Professor Xavier asked Jean.

"He should be fine." Jean said, sparing a look at her mentor and friend before returning her attention to her patient. "He'll have to be watched carefully for the next few days. Heat stroke is nothing to play around with. My biggest concern right now, is getting his temperature down. It's at 104º and that's in the danger zone."

Professor Xavier reiterated his conversation with Logan, then asked Jean the same question regarding the boy's origins.

"I agree with Logan. He couldn't have come that far in this heat unless he had help. As it was, he was pushing himself. We found him just in time."

"Or he found us."

----------------------------

A jumble of images bombarded his mind. The unrelenting heat, the urge to just lie down, the need to keep going. The gate! He was there! He was safe! He was ... falling? He couldn't catch his breath! Why did he feel like this? Then, blessed darkness swept over him and he didn't care anymore.

When he woke up, it was cool and dark and quiet and he was lying down. He blinked and tried to sit up but that made his head hurt, so, he laid back down and closed his eyes, letting sleep claim him again. Where ever he was, he was safe, for the moment. If he felt better when he woke up, then he'd try to figure out where he was. He wasn't in a hurry anymore.

-------------------------

Jean's newest patient, still nameless, slept and slept and slept. Day slipped into night and back into day before there were even the slightest of movements from him. One good thing about all that sleeping was that the longer the boy slept, the longer his body had to recover and when he did, he would be able to identify himself. Lord knows they weren't making any success on that front.

Logan had searched the boy's bag but had learned almost nothing. There was no i.d., nothing with a name or a place on it, nothing that would give the slightest hint as to where he had come from or even what his name was. There was a change of clothes, an empty water bottle, two cereal bar wrappers and a handful of change but that was all. What a supreme waste of time that had been. So, with nothing coming from the boy's belongings and not wanting to enter the boy's mind unless absolutely necessary, Professor Xavier had had Jean take the boy's fingerprints and sent them on to his sources. If the boy was in any system of any kind, the Professor would find out.

A whisper of air was all that alerted Jean to her patient's new wakeful state. She looked up and saw the young man, sitting up, looking around, confusion etched on his face. She intended to get up and see how he was feeling but something kept her in her seat. As she watched, he detached himself from the I.V. and the heart monitor, threw back the sheet and slipped out of bed. Not wanting to alarm him, Jean switched off the monitoring equipment telepathically. He wobbled some when his feet touched the floor but his steps were sure as he figured out which door led out and headed for it.

She sighed, then grinned. He would be just fine. She got up from her seat and stepped into his line of sight, making sure to stay out of arms reach. Of course, if he was a mutant, it wouldn't matter but she always took the precaution.

He stopped and stared at her with large, frightened eyes, his slim frame shaking with the effort of just standing. Jean had thought him to be at least sixteen but now that he was standing in front of her, he didn't look much older than fourteen. Poor kid, he must be scared out of his mind.

"Hello," she said "my name is Jean. What's yours?"

He didn't respond. He just looked at her.

"C'mon, what am I going to do with a name?" she asked.

He chewed on his lower lip and looked as if he was considering her words. He licked his lips and said, softly "Danny. My name is Danny. Where am I?"

"You're in the home of Professor Charles Xavier. Where are you from, Danny?"

"The Professor Xavier that runs a school for the...the...gifted?" Danny said. He almost spit the last word out like it was a curse.

Jean nodded. "Would you like..."

"I want to talk to Professor Xavier." Danny said. His eyes darted past Jean and locked on the Med-Lab's sliding doors.

"Of course. He'll be happy to talk to you, especially since you come so far." Jean replied. With her practiced eye, she could tell he didn't have much energy left. She needed to get him to sit down before he collapsed. "Have a seat."

But Danny did not move, he couldn't bring himself to believe Jean.

"You'll feel better if you sit down." Jean told him.

He scowled at her.

Inwardly, Jean sighed. It was never easy convincing the new arrivals that they were safe from harm at the school.

Into this stand-off, came Scott, just back from a trip with Storm. The Med-Lab's doors opened, Danny saw Scott and panicked. He raised a hand and a beam of energy shot out from it, forcing Jean to step out of his way.

"What the ...?" Scott's sentence was cut off as he dodged out of the way of the beam but he wasn't quite quick enough. The beam glanced off his arm, spun him around and knocked him to the floor.

Danny wasn't done either. He turned to Jean and raised his hand again but that was as far as he got. Jean froze him in place with her own power.

"Danny, calm down! No one is going to hurt you." She told him.

Danny glared at her. From the floor, Scott watched, waiting for his opportunity.

"I know you're upset and confused but I am not going to allow you to hurt anyone, including yourself. Understand?"

He thought about it, then, slowly, nodded.

"I'm going to let you go now. When I do, I want you sit down, okay?"

Again, Danny nodded.

Jean released him and he folded onto the floor. She crouched down next to him and put her hand on his back. "I'm going to have someone help you back into bed. Just relax."

"I want to talk to Professor Xavier." he said, not without some difficulty.

"I know." She motioned for Scott to join them. He came over and picked up Danny.

"I want to talk to Professor Xavier." Danny repeated, his voice slurring on the last few words. But the conversation with Professor Xavier would have to wait for Danny was asleep even before Scott put him back in bed.

Jean tucked Danny back in and reattached the I.V. and heart monitor before casting a look at her husband. "Welcome back." she said, planting a kiss on Scott's cheek. "Are you okay?"


	2. Finally, A Name To Go With The Face

"Finally, a name to go with the face." Professor Xavier said, after listening to Jean's report on the afternoon's events. He rolled over to Danny's bed and watched him sleep. "I'm glad he told you something. I was pulling a complete blank on his fingerprints. He is not in any computerized system I can find."

"No missing person reports?" Scott asked, perched on Jean's desk. A check of his arm had shown no damage, no bruises, no nothing.

"I'm working on that as we speak but there are thousands and thousands of boys fitting Danny's description and the particulars in his case. Having his name will help immensely, of course, but even then it will take some time." He looked down at Danny and said, quietly "Where did you come from?"

He turned and rolled back to join Jean and Scott at her desk. They were two of his original students and his most trusted advisors. He would take, on faith,whatever they said.

"Has he spent much time on the streets?" he asked Scott, a former runaway himself.

Scott shook his head and said "No. He might have spent some time while trying to get here but he's had a roof over his head for a very long time."

"I haven't seen any signs of abuse either." Jean said. "Not yet anyway. Where ever he was, he was cared for."

---------------------------------

The answer to the Danny's past was answered by nothing less than satellite television. Logan, after shooing a few kids from the room, had been channel surfing, looking for something to watch. His favorite, ice hockey, would not start up again for several more months, leaving him cruising through 500 plus channels. He flashed past the local news, caught a glimpse of...something and backed up.

"I'll be damned." he muttered. With feline grace, he hoped up, stuck a videotape in the closest VCR and sat back down to watch.

"I know who our mystery kid is." Logan said, walking into Professor Xavier's office a few minutes, without knocking.

"Good evening, Logan." Professor Xavier said, looking up from his desk.

"Evenin'. Here." Logan tossed a video tape onto the Professor's desk. "I saw a news report on him, just now."

"Really? I'll let the others know." Professor Xavier looked at one of many cabinets lining the walls of his office. The doors opened and both the tv and V.C.R. turned on. He handed the tape back to Logan. "Would you?"

"Sure." Logan said. In the time, it took him to feed the tape into the V.C.R., rewind and hit the 'stop' button, Scott and Storm came into the Professor's office. Jean had remained in the Med-Lab with Danny. She was not about to leave him alone, lest he decide to get up and start wandering again.

The office lights dimmed and the V.C.R. started to play.

"The search for fifteen year old Danny Kincaid moves into its third day with plenty of volunteers but no further leads as to the teenagers whereabouts. Despite the record heat, there has been an overwhelming response to the call for volunteers." A Hispanic woman news reporter said. Video of people walking through dense forests, calling for Danny was shown with the news reporter providing a voice-over.

"Danny Kincaid has not been seen since leaving his parent's house located in the upstate New York town of Troy this past Monday. According to the police, he had told his parents he was going to the library but never made it there."

A school picture of Danny appeared on the screen, followed by video of his parents making a plea for his return.

"We don't care what you've done or what you think you've done." A plump woman in her 40's said, into a microphone. "Whatever it is, we'll work it out."

"Danny, runnin's not going to solve anything. Come on back and we'll help in anyway possible." A tall man, also in his 40's, added.

The video shifted back to the news reporter. "According to his parents, Danny was a normal, healthy teenager. He did fine in school and never got into any trouble. That is, until last Thursday when there was an unexplained explosion at Emma Willard School, a private school for girls in Troy where Danny's mother is a fine arts teacher."

Scott's ears perked up at the last sentence. Perhaps Danny possessed a similar power to his. A picture of a Gothic style building appeared on the screen. "According to his mother, Danny had accompanied her to the Fine Arts Building at Emma Willard to help prepare for the coming school year. At the end of the evening, as she was closing up the building, she heard a loud thump coming from the back of the theatre. She went to investigate but Danny appeared and assured her that everything was fine. It wasn't until the next afternoon that the damage was discovered and, by then, Danny was gone."

A picture of a hole in a wall flashed onto the screen. The hole was surrounded by a pile of pulverized bricks and pieces of mortar.

"The police would like to speak with Danny regarding the incident. They want him to know that he is NOT in trouble, they just want to know what happened. Anyone with any information regarding Danny Kincaid's whereabouts is asked to contact the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office or the Troy Police."

Danny's school picture appeared on the screen one final time and then the tape ended.

The office lights came up and silence followed the video until Professor Xavier spoke.

"It would appear that we have a new pupil. Scott, since you witnessed Danny's talents first hand, how would you describe it?"

"It was something like you might do, 'Ro but not quite." Scott said, nodding in Storm's direction, her power being that of controlling the weather. "He took the air around him and used it as a weapon. It only glanced off me but it knocked me down. It didn't hurt. It was like a really strong wind blowing against me."

"Interesting. I'll need to see what he can do before making any judgments, of course." Storm replied.

"When Danny wakes up, Storm and I will talk to him and see what he can do." Professor Xavier said. "In the meantime, I'll work up a class schedule for him."

"Yer leavin' somethin' out." Logan said.

"Such as?" Professor Xavier asked.

"The news has just plastered the kid's face from here to Troy. What if he took a bus? What if he hitched a ride with someone? What happens when people start comin' forward and sayin' they saw him? What are you goin' do when the police come knockin' on the door?"

"Invite them in, of course. We have nothing to hide from the police." Professor Xavier said. "You make a good point, Logan but I'm willing to wait for a few days to see if Danny wakes up and tell us what he wants to do. If he doesn't, then we'll have to reconsider our options."

"Here's hopin' he wakes up soon." Logan replied.

-----------------------------------

When Danny woke up the next morning, he immediately he wished he hadn't. Professor Xavier was there, Danny recognized him from a picture, but he wasn't alone. There was a tall, dark skinned woman with the Professor, not to mention the doctor. He instantly slammed his eyes shut. Yes, he wanted to talk to Professor Xavier but he wanted to speak to the Professor alone. Maybe if the doctor thought he was asleep, they all might go away and he could talk Professor Xavier later, alone.

No such luck.

There were footsteps, then a gentle touch on his shoulder, followed by the doctor's voice.

"Danny? Wake up, Professor Xavier is here to see you." she said.

The need to speak to the Professor outweighed the need to hide so, Danny opened his eyes.

Professor Xavier smiled at Danny and said "Good morning, I've been told that you wanted to speak to me?"

Danny nodded. His eyes lingered on the Professor before darting over to the woman standing next to him. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ororo Munroe but you can call me Storm." she said.

"Storm is one of the instructors here." Professor Xavier said.

"In what? Science?" Danny asked.

"Actually, science is my subject." the doctor said. She came over and stood on Storm's right side. "Storm does Social Studies. We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Dr. Jean Grey."

Danny swallowed. He had a vague memory of Dr. Grey telling him to stop and calm down. He licked his lips and said "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Dr. Grey asked.

"For before. I didn't mean to make a mess. I didn't mean to hit that guy with the glasses, he just got in the way, I was trying to hit the door.

For some reason, Dr. Grey must have found his statement funny because she smiled, then said "It's all right. Accidents happen."

He frowned and mumbled "Happens to me, all the time."

"Danny, why don't you tell me what brought you here." Professor Xavier said. "The sooner I know, the sooner I can help."

"I'm a freak. I don't belong anywhere else." Danny spat out. He glared at the Professor as if daring the Professor to contradict him.

But the Professor didn't. Instead, he asked "Why do you consider yourself a freak?"

"How many normal people can do this?" Danny asked. He held out his hand and a gust of air blew past the adults, ruffling their clothes. The gust hit a stack of papers on Dr. Grey's desk, sending them flying.

"Impressive. Can you put them back?" Dr. Grey asked.

Danny shook his head. "I don't know how." He looked at Professor Xavier. "If I'm not a freak, then what am I?"

"The preferred term is 'mutant'. If you want, we can train you so that you can control your power. Jean, would you demonstrate?" Professor Xavier asked Dr. Grey.

With a wave of her hand, the scattered papers reassembled themselves and settled back onto the desk. "I think I might've even gotten them in the right order too." Dr. Grey said.

"Show off." Storm said, with a grin.

"I try." Dr. Grey replied.

"Would you like to be able to do that? Is that why you wanted to speak to me?" Professor Xavier asked Danny.

Danny nodded. More than anything in the world, he wanted to be able to keep from making a mess and, if he made a mess, he wanted to be able to clean up after himself. And, most of all, he desperately wanted to fit in.

"I thought so. Your power and Ms. Muroe's, Storm's, power are very similar. She will know the best course for you to take." Professor Xavier said.

"Really?" Danny asked, his eyebrows going up. He had never known another person who could do what he did.

"Really." Storm said. "Now, with Dr. Grey's permission, I'd like to take you elsewhere so I can see exactly what you can do."

"Of course." Dr. Grey said. "He needs to get dressed first. He can't exactly go outside like he is."

Dressed? Danny looked around the room for his knapsack and his one change of clothes.

"I'll get your clothes." Dr. Grey said. "Give him ten minutes."

"Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it." Danny said, to all the adults around him.


	3. A Place to Belong?

"You wear him out and I'll wear you out." Jean said to Bobby. 

"No ma'am, that won't happen, I promise." Bobby said.

"All right." She looked at Danny. "If you start to feel bad, come back here immediately."

Danny nodded.

----------------------------------

Danny's day had been full of surprises and they just kept coming. After demonstrating for Ms. Munroe that morning, he had come back to the Med-Lab pretty much drained and gone back to sleep. Dr. Grey had warned him that suffering from heat stroke would make him tired sooner but he had only half-believed her. That afternoon, after having his first solid meal in over 24 hours, one of the older students from the school came down to visit and to see if Danny couldn't go 'exploring' a bit. The student introduced himself as Bobby Drake and he seemed nice enough but would he be that way out of view of the adults?

After gaining the upper floors of the mansion and, away from the prying ears of the adults, Danny decided to see how trustworthy Bobby could be.

"What's this place really like?" he asked.

In typical teenage fashion, Bobby shrugged and said "It's cool."

"He's not going to send me back to my folks, is he?" Danny asked.

"Not unless you wanna go. But, he'll want you to let them know where you are and that you're okay."

"If I do that, then they'll know where I am."

"Don't bet on it. Professor Xavier's got his ways."

Danny chewed on that piece of information and did not respond immediately. He followed Bobby into one of the many "game rooms" in the mansion but stopped dead in the doorway. It was, quite possibly, the coolest room he had ever seen.

"Have a seat." Bobby said, dropping into a chair. "You want something to drink? Don't worry about getting yelled at, we drink in here all the time."

Danny only half-heard Bobby. He was too busy staring around the well-appointed room. A myriad of books and games lined the walls. An overstuffed couch was set in between a scattering of chairs and placed directly in front of the largest tv set he had ever seen. He simply stared. He could really get used to living in a place like this.

"Go on, sit. Chair's not going to bite." Bobby said, watching Danny.

Danny sat in a chair close to the door.

"You want to watch something? We've got a satellite dish. 500 channels and more movies than you'll be able to watch in a lifetime." Bobby said.

"Sure." Danny replied, with a shrug. He didn't know what to think at that point.

After some channel surfing, a baseball game was found that both boys liked and silence descended.

At the bottom of the 3rd inning, Danny asked Bobby "What can you do?"

"Turn stuff into ice. I can make stuff out of ice too." Bobby replied. He made a fist, then opened it a moment later. An ice baseball rested in the palm of his hand.

"Cool." Danny breathed.

Bobby shrugged and dumped the ice baseball into the nearest trash can. "I can always hire myself out for parties. What about you?"

"I can move stuff by controlling the air around it. Ms. Munroe calls it elements control. I can't make it rain but I can make the rain move and I can make the air scatter someone's stuff." Danny held out his hand and the TV Guide flew off the table.

"Cool." Bobby said, impressed.

"Whatever." Danny replied.

That evening, Danny sat in Professor Xavier's office for the very first time since arriving at the mansion and he was utterly terrified. While the Professor hadn't said that he had to leave, the Professor hadn't said he could stay either. The Professor had asked him if he wanted to learn how to control his powers and that was a good thing but, what if Professor Xavier had changed his mind? Where would he go if he wasn't allowed to stay? He couldn't go home.

Professor Xavier faced him from across the desk and smiled. He reminded Danny of his favorite uncle, an uncle Danny hadn't seen in years and probably didn't even know where he lived any more.

Story of my life. No one knows where I am and no one cares. He thought darkly. He looked at the floor and missed the momentary frown on Professor Xavier's face.

"I trust you are feeling better?" Professor Xavier asked him.

Danny looked up and nodded. Whatever happened to him, he would take it like a man.

"You are welcome to stay and go to school here. As you can see, we have plenty of room. However, I would ask that you notify your parents and tell them that you are safe and all right."

Danny jerked in his chair as if surprised and stared at Professor Xavier not quite believing his ears. The Professor had said he could stay! He opened his mouth to thank Professor Xavier, then closed it and hung his head. "It'd be better if they didn't know. They've got too many other things to deal with. It's better if I'm not there."

"Are you certain?" Professor Xavier asked.

Danny nodded.

"I want you to watch something." Professor Xavier said. The doors of the armoire near him opened, revealing a tv set and VCR. Both the tv and VCR came on at the same time, a moment later, the newscast Logan had recorded began to play again.

Danny watched the newsbroadcast, transfixed and when the tape was done, he was shaking slightly.

"Now, having seen that, do you really think your parents don't care?" Professor Xavier asked.

Danny stubbornly shook his head. "If I write them, they'll know where I am and if they know where I am, they'll want to come and get me. I don't want them to come! I've made too big a mess at home! I'll only make things worse if I go back! I don't want them to know where I am! They're better off without me!" The longer he talked, the louder, and more upset, he became.

Behind him, the door to Professor Xavier's office opened a crack and Scott appeared in the doorway. He cocked an eyebrow at Professor Xavier, who shook his head. Scott withdrew but left the door open.

Professor Xavier waited for a moment, then cleared his throat and said "I understand. You wish to spare your parents any more pain. But think about this for a moment. Wouldn't your parents be in more pain if they didn't know if you were safe? Or would they suffer more if they did know you were safe? I can guarantee that were you to write a letter, it would be delivered in such a way, so, they would never know where it came from."

"Really? You can do that?"

"Yes. Would you like to write one now?"


	4. Home, At Last

The next day, a letter was waiting in the Kincaid's mailbox when Mrs. Kincaid came home from the grocery store. She had seen it sticking out of the mailbox when she pulled into the drive and thought it odd because the mail wasn't delivered until much, much later in the afternoon. She came down the drive, pulled the letter out of the box and about fainted when she recognized the handwriting.

It was Danny's.

Mr. Kincaid arrived home shortly there after. One of his children had called him at work and told him to come home immediately but hadn't said why. When he got to the house, he found the children standing in the front yard, quiet as church mice. They told him what had happened, which sent him into the kitchen, where his wife sat at the kitchen table, crying. Danny's letter lay on the table in front of her. Wordlessly, she looked up at her husband and handed him the letter.

Mr. Kincaid sank into a chair next to his wife and read:

'Dear Mom and Dad,

I don't want you to worry about me. I'm fine. I'm where I belong, finally. I'm sorry I made such a mess at Emma Willard but I didn't know how to clean it up. I didn't want you getting in trouble because of me, Mom, so, I left.

I know I shouldn't have left without saying where I was really going but I couldn't, just try and talk me out of it. I was tired of being the oddball. I just wanted to fit in somewhere and now, I do.

Please don't be unhappy or start looking for me, you won't find me.

I'll write again soon, I promise.

I love you, Mom and Dad.

Your son,

Danny '

Mr. Kincaid blinked and read Danny's letter twice more, then he looked at the envelope.

Nothing.

Not so much as a stamp to tell him where his son was. He sighed, put the letter down and reached over to hug his wife, his own tears mingling with hers.

"The case of missing 15-year old Danny Kincaid has come to an odd end." A male newscaster said to an empty room at the Xavier Mansion. Scott had turned on the news but had been called away, leaving the room empty. Danny had come along behind him, heard his name and poked his head into the room.

A picture of himself, followed by a picture of his house appeared on the screen while the newscaster continued on.

"A letter with no stamp, no postmark, no return address was found in the Kincaid family mailbox this afternoon. The letter, addressed to Danny's parents, appears to have come from Danny himself and assures them that he is all right and will write again soon. In response, Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid have asked to speak to the public one more time."

The picture shifted to a video of his parents standing at a bank of microphones.

"We just wanted to say 'Thank you' to everyone who helped us." Mrs. Kincaid said. Then she looked directly into the nearest camera and said "Danny, I'm glad you're safe and that you're happy and that you feel that you finally fit in. But I feel so bad you weren't able to tell us how unhappy you were. I wish you would let us know where you are. I love you. Please write again, soon."

Danny's eyes started to burn with unshed tears.

Mr. Kincaid spoke next. He too, looked directly into the nearest camera. "Danny, son, you know the door is always open. We love you and miss you. Give us a chance, you won't be sorry. Call the house, you know the number."

Tears started to roll down Danny's cheeks. He turned and ran from the room as fast as he could. He had heard all he could bear. Scott came back into the room just as Danny left. He watched Danny disappear around a corner, then turned his attention to the newscast and understood.

"Danny Kincaid is the boy who disappeared from Troy, NY nearly a week ago after a suspicious explosion at his mother's place of work." The newscaster said.

"What a strange end to the typical runaway story." A second newscaster said to the first one.

"Strange indeed but, it's a happy ending, sort of." The first newscaster said.

Except that Danny's disappearance wasn't that strange at all. He was simply looking for a place to belong and he found that place at The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters.


End file.
